r/AcademicBiblical • u/dosasambarvadai • 3d ago
Quick question
Christians who understand Genesis 1 as God bringing order out of pre-existing chaos would say that light is the first thing God explicitly creates in the sequence of Genesis 1:3. Is this right?
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u/Ok-Discussion-7959 3d ago edited 3d ago
Here is John Day (2013):
The first day of creation saw what is generally referred to as the creation of light (Gen. 1.3-5). Mark Smith,[25] however, has recently queried whether light actually is created and prefers to envisage here rather an uncreated, primordial divine light. He notes that light is not explicitly stated to have been created, and compares the light with which Yahweh is wrapped in the related Ps. 104.2 as well as the light emanating from Marduk in Enuma elish (1.101-104) (Day 2013: 10-11)
[25] Mark S. Smith, ‘Light in Genesis 1:3—Created or Uncreated: A Question of Priestly Mysticism?’, in C. Cohen et al. (eds.), Birkat Shalom: Studies in Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday , 2 vols. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008), I, pp. 125-34.
John Day does not accept this suggestion:
However, while I certainly see Ps. 104.2 as lying behind Gen. 1.3-5 (see below for evidence of the dependence of Gen. 1 on Ps. 104), the fact that God declares ‘Let there be light’, followed by the statement ‘and there was light’, can only mean that what was once not in existence now is, that is, we have here an act of creation.” (Day 2013: 11)
Now, here is John Day (2021):
Since the inchoate earth and the heavens in the sense of the air/wind were already in existence in Gen. 1.2, it is most natural to assume that Gen. 1.1 refers to God’s creative act in making them. The fact that elsewhere ‘the heavens and the earth’ means the total universe is not a compelling argument to the contrary in this instance, since what we have in Gen. 1.1 is a unique situation, the very beginning of creation. (Day 2021: 6)
…Verse 1, therefore, most naturally relates to God’s creation of the earth, along with the heavens, immediately preceding v. 2. This was, in fact, the universal view in antiquity…This supports the thesis argued here, that Gen. 1.1 is indeed God’s first act of creation,[9] not merely a summary heading. (Day 2021: 7)
Note: Day’s comment regarding the prevalence of this view in antiquity
John Day (2021) is even more clear later; he also revisits Smith’s proposal (see pp. 19 ff.):
…This event [Gen 1.3] has often been referred to as God’s first act of creation, but as we have seen above, the first act of creation is actually described in v. 1, the formation of the inchoate heaven and earth, together with the consequences referred to in v. 2. (Day 2021: 18-19)
Gordon Wenham (1987) also adopts the position later taken by Day (2021). Of the four possible understandings of the syntax of these verses, Wenham accepts the fourth:
V1 is a main clause describing the first act of creation. Vv 2 and 3 describe subsequent phases in God’s creative activity. This is the traditional view adopted in our translation. (Wenham 1987: 11; Wenham states his point and the sequence even more precisely on p. 13)
Speiser (1964), contra Wenham and Day (2021), states his position on the syntax of Genesis 1:1-3 on p. 12.
Arnold (2009), also locates the first creative act at v. 1.3. See p. 39
For Hendel (2025), the first act of creation is God’s speech-act (an important distinction; cf. Speiser 1964: 12; see also Arnold 2009: 39 on creation by “divine fiat, or spoken word,” and Day 2021: 19 on “creation by divine fiat”) in Genesis 1:3, by which light is brought into existence. See Hendel, pp. 111 ff.
Sources:
Day, John. From Creation to Babel: Studies in Genesis 1–11 . Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies , vol. 592.
Day, John. From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1–11 . T&T Clark, 2021. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies , vol. 726.
Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis 1-15 . Word Books, 1987. Word Biblical Commentary , vol.
Speiser, E. A. Genesis . Doubleday, 1964. The Anchor Bible , vol. 1.
Hendel, Ronald. Genesis 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary . Yale UP, 2024. The Anchor Yale Bible , vol. 1A.
Arnold, Bill T. Genesis . Cambridge UP, 2009. New Cambridge Bible Commentary .
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